2-Weeks Safari Vacation To Uganda's Top National Parks

Your private driver guide for this safari vacation trip will pick you up from Entebbe International Airport (15 minutes) and check you in at your hotel within Entebbe. You'll meet with your package specialist for a briefing just before dinner.

Otherwise, there are optional activities around Entebbe for those who arrive early and want to stay active.

For example, bird-watchers can visit the world-renowned botanical gardens or Mabamba swamps to meet the prehistoric shoebill. You can take a leisurely walk through Entebbe suburbs to the local markets or modern malls for shopping and forex exchange.

You'll stay at: Papyrus Guesthouse (Comfortable)

Meals: Dinner

You'll have an early breakfast and hit the highway at about 8:00 am northwesterly to Murchison Falls National Park.

You will have a detour at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary for a walking safari to find the endangered white rhinos. Before the guided rhino tracking experience, you have lunch at the ranch, then continue your scenic journey through Murchison Falls to your safari camp near the Nile river.

You'll stay at: Murchison River Lodge

Meals Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Get on the sunrise safari game drive on southern tracks to catch the early morning risers like lions and leopards at their best hunting games.

Although no rhinos exist, the other big five are present in Murchison Falls National Park. Buffalo and elephants are common sightings on the early game drives. A healthy population of lions patrols the abundant Uganda kob herds. The grazers like the oribi, Jackson's hartebeest, defassa waterbuck, grey duiker, and bushbuck are also a sight to behold. You'll be back at the camp for lunch and out again later.

After lunch, transfer to Paraa northern bank for the boat trip up to the bottom of the fall, where it is possible to view hundreds of hippos, crocodiles, and various bird life.

At the bottom of the falls, the magnificence of the thunderous Nile River waters squeezing through a tiny gorge and tumbling 40 meters down is a sight to marvel at. You can trek up the hill to watch the Murchison Falls from above, with the rainbow and misty freshness of the falls moisturizing your experience.

Staying at: Murchison River Lodge

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner.

You'll have another early rise to catch the sunrise action on the northern game tracks. The north tracks are great for sighting leopards, antelopes, and elephants.

The drive can last as long as you want; look for the small exciting animals on the plains like the hyenas, patas, monkeys, and bush pigs.

You'll take the afternoon off to relax at your safari camp, busk in the savannah sunlight, and catch up on the latest safari gossip. You have a long drive to Kibale the following morning.

Staying at: Murchison River Lodge

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner.

We'll wake you up early for breakfast so you can be on the road by 7:30 am. Fortunately, you'll see some animals over the early sunrays as you exit the park to join the highway to Fort Portal.

It is a scenic drive passing long stretches of tea plantations, cattle ranches, and farmlands to Kibale National Park. You'll drive through Hoima, Kyenjojo and detour in Fort Portal, where the Rwenzori peaks curtain the city's background.

You'll check in at your forest cottage on the edge of the rainforest with regular primates and other animal visits.

Staying at: Turaco Treetops
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Wake up early and be at the visitor center by 7:30 am to venture on your first encounter with great apes on a chimpanzee trekking excursion in Kibale Forest.

Kibale is commonly known for the diversity and density of primates in Africa. Its stands out as the best place to watch chimpanzees up close in their natural setting, with over 1500 chimpanzees under the park’s rainforest canopy and a dozen other primate species.

On your morning trek to find the chimps, it’s prevalent for other primates to cross your paths, like the rare L’Hoest’s monkey and red colobus monkey. You may also encounter the black & white colobus, red-tailed monkey, blue monkey, olive baboon, and grey-cheeked mangabey.

However, your primary goal will be to find a troop of human-habituated chimpanzees. Guided by an expert tracker, you’ll head into the jungle in small groups, looking out for tale-tale signs of the chimp’s direction and listening for loud calls.

The experience usually lasts 2 to 6 hours, depending on the location of the habituated chimpanzee troop. Visitors are allowed from 1 hr to almost the whole day with the chimpanzees, and the quality and intimacy of each sighting can vary highly.

After lunch, in the afternoon, visit the Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary for a guided nature walk with a local guide. The wetland trail places you in the center of exotic biodiversity and beautiful scenery. The trail boardwalk is a bird-watching hot spot with about 138 species identified. Eight primates call the protected land their home, including the black-and-white colobus, grey-cheeked mangabey, red-tailed, L’’Hoest’s and blue monkeys, and olive baboons.

Staying at: Turaco Treetops
Meals: Brealfast, Lunch, Dinner

You'll get on a 3-4-hour drive from Kibale to Queen Elizabeth National Park, reaching Mweya jetty just in time for the lunch-time boat cruise on the Kazinga Channel.

The boat safari will take you the closest you've ever been to untamed wild animals on the backs of the channel, like hippos, elephants, crocodiles, and buffalo.

You'll be spending four days in Uganda's most celebrated and largest savannah park, Queen Elizabeth National Park.

The park has a mosaic of habitats, from the moist forest at Maramagambo to the wild savannah plains excellent for Lions, Leopards, Elephants, Hyenas, Uganda Kobs, Baboons, Giant Hogs, and Warthog, among others.

Staying at: Kyambura Gorge Lodge

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch (packed), and Dinner.

Get a chance to watch Africa safari's big game players up-close on an early morning or sunset game drive on the tracks of Uganda's top national park.

A sunrise game drive on Kasenyi tracks is known for its action-packed sightings of lions and elusive leopards. It's also the best place to encounter large elephant and buffalo herds. You'll also spot many interesting antelope species, such as Uganda kob, topi, and bushbuck. The giant forest hog is unusually easy to spot around the same place.

On the Kazinga Channel boat safari, which sets off at about 14:00, you can catch sight of elephants, buffalo, waterbuck, Uganda kob, and large hippo pods daily. Keep an eye open for the enormous water monitor lizard, which is common in the riverine scrub and crocodiles. You'll also see the giant forest hog, leopard, and lion. The odds of seeing predators and other nocturnal creatures coming to drink are highest in the late afternoon.

Staying at: Kyambura Gorge Lodge

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch (packed), and Dinner.

You'll start the day with a sunrise wildlife viewing game drive through the park's southern section, exploring Kyambura Wildlife Reserve to Ishasha Sector.

Keep your eyes on the landscape as you drive through grassland for the jolting gorge views shed with tropical forest. Hike into the gorge of the Kyambura River if you are interested. It is a beautiful walk through the river valley, home to many birds and butterfly species. Continue the drive through the park to a safari camp in Ishasha Sector, where you'll spend two nights.

Tree-climbing lions are a specialty of the Ishasha sector. You'll also see giant forest hogs; buffalo are beautiful as they are often reddish brown due to interbreeding with forest buffalo from the rainforests. Many interesting antelope species, such as Uganda kob, topi, and bushbuck, will definitely cross your tracks.

Staying at: Ishasha Wilderness Camp

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch (packed), and Dinner.

Explore the Ishasha sector on a sunrise game drive and retire to your safari camp for the rest of the afternoon.

Apart from the tree-climbing lions, the Ishasha area of Queen Elizabeth National Park is rich with wildlife, including warthog, waterbuck, bushbuck, leopard, Ugandan kob, elephants, countless bird species, and even the rare giant forest hog. The Ishasha sector of the park is known for its famous tree-climbing lions, sometimes found lying about in the native fig tree branches.

The following morning, you'll join a walking safari guide on a forest walking safari across Bwindi Impenetrable Forest from Buhoma north to Nkuringo southern section.

Staying at: Ishasha Wilderness Camp

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch (packed), and Dinner.

You'll get on the trail at about 9:30 am after a short briefing with your walking safari guide at the lodge. You must hit the trails in the misty early morning hours so that the intense afternoon sunrays find you under the jungle canopy. You'll travel with a local guide and two gun-bearing rangers for security. Go light; just your backpack with lunch, a camera, and walking. It takes about 4-5 hours to walk the trail.

In addition to marveling at the ancient jungle's plant life, the trail offers incredible animal and bird sightings. Inhabitants that could cross your path include chimpanzees, l'Hoest's monkeys, and African elephants. Birds like the African green broadbill, Grauer's swamp warbler, Turner's Eremomela, Chapin's flycatcher, and Shelley's crimson-wing fly under the forest canopy. Colorful butterflies such as the African giant swallowtail and Cream-banded swallowtail are ubiquitous.

Two trails meet somewhere in the rainforest and snake down to Buhoma town; you'll have to select one. The longer one takes about six hours and strays along the Kashasha river and over several ridges. The shorter one starts at Kashasha River, down Nteko valley, and wanders along Ivy River. You must drive about 15 kilometers to Nteko village to start the Ivy River Trail. However, both trails deliver the same jolt of adventure for avid birders.

On the other side, you'll meet up with your safari vacation private driver, who will drive you to your forest cottage above the mighty Bwindi Jungle.

Staying at: Nkuringo Bwindi Gorilla Lodge

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch (packed), and Dinner.

• Stay back at the lodge and relax, read a book, join a cooking class or take a walk around the property and talk to some locals.
• Drive down to Lake Mutanda for a traditional dug-out canoeing experience with some of the most enchanting views on the volcano lake.
• Forest walk either on a Batwa Forest Trail or the Circular Trail through Bwindi Impenetrable Forest; this time not for gorillas but everything else ethereal about the jungle.
• Go on a sundowner picnic on top of the world with 360-degree spellbinding views of the hilly landscapes. It's a walking distance from the lodge.

Staying at: Nkuringo Bwindi Gorilla Lodge

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch (packed), and Dinner.

You must be up by 7:00 am to join the gorilla trekking excursion. Have breakfast, and get your lunch pack, drinking water, and hiking gear. Your private driver will have you at the briefing point before 7:30 am. Gorilla trekking starts at about 8:00 am from the visitor center, irrespective of the weather and group size.

You will probably take the better part of the day in the jungle—more time tracking the mountain gorillas than watching them. You have about one hour to observe the dark-fared giant apes staying 10 meters away from them. But sometimes they come closer, and you must follow the rules of the jungle.

The time you spend with the great apes will greatly compensate for all the jungle hiking that challenges your health and fitness. I recommend you work out for a few days before you come because trekking mountain gorillas is physically demanding. You'll be trekking on muddy, steep terrain, a thick jungle with humid air and an intense atmosphere.

You'll be out of there by about 2:00 pm; have lunch somewhere in the jungle and get back to your cottage for the evening. Take advantage of the walk in the rainforest to look out for some special birds, but note that your guide will be more interested in finding the gorillas.

Staying at: Nkuringo Bwindi Gorilla Lodge

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch (packed), and Dinner.

After breakfast, you'll join your safari vacation driver for another exciting road trip down western Uganda's Switz-like emerald hills and winding roads, through the beautiful towns of Kabale and Mbarara, and detour to Igongo Cultural Centre for lunch.

You'll check in to your safari lodge and spend the rest of the evening relaxing in camp amenities.

Accommodation Mihingo Lodge
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch (Packed), Dinner

With a picnic breakfast, allow a four-hour hike up to hilltop viewpoints, where exciting horse safaris start. Horseback safaris are an exciting way to view wildlife, including eland and buffalo. Also commonly sighted are warthog, topi, impala, duiker, bushbuck, waterbuck, and zebra.

Transfer back to the lodge for lunch and relaxation for the rest of the afternoon.

Accommodation Mihingo Lodge
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch (Packed), Dinner

Let's say you must catch a late-night flight back home at Entebbe Airport. In that case, you must get up early and hit the highway to be in Entebbe by lunch, go shopping, and freshen up for your long international flight.

On the other hand, you may have booked a night in Entebbe. Therefore, leave a little later in the morning because you are in no hurry. Drive easy as you leave the park for the highway drive to Entebbe.

Whichever you choose, we'll prepare you a decent place to freshen and repack or spend a night.

Optional Accommodation: Papyrus Guesthouse
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch (Packed)